72-year-old Pacquet woman sands her entire street after government trucks give up

Daphne Bowers called officials with the Department of Transportation and Works to complain about her icy road. Their solution was to dump a truckload of sand at the bottom of Bowers Hill, for her to shovel herself.

Where others may have scoffed, the stubborn 72-year-old town councillorin Pacquet took them up on their offer.

Bowers spent the next hour and a half outside with her shovel and a five-gallon bucket, shovelling sand up and down the hill.

"I decided to go and do it myself," she said."I don't like to be doing it ... But what can I do?"

The town handles snow clearing and ice control on its main roads, while the Department of Transportation and Works is contracted to do the side roads.

Bowers said her hill hasn't seen a government sand or salt truck in two weeks. A spokesperson for the department said the hill was too icy for their equipment to get up and down safely.

He did go down in his truck and come back up, so I must have done some good- Daphne Bowers

They said a request was made on behalf of the town for them to dump sand for their own use. Bowers said it's not ideal, but if the trucks and department staff can't do their job, she doesn't see any other choice than to do it herself.

It's not just the sand trucks that can't make the drive. Bowers said her garbage didn't get picked up last week. In order to get groceries, she had to walk down the hill and get a ride to the store, then have her brother-in-law help her carry the groceries back up.

And when it comes to walking up and down, there's no easy method.

"I haven't been able to walk on the road for the last two weeks. I've been climbing around on the snow banks to get where I've got to go," she said.

Government looking at other options

After shovelling the sand, however, things appeared to have gotten a little better.

"[Monday]night, the guy that lives next door, he did go down in his truck and come back up, so I must have done some good," she laughed.

On Tuesday, the department said they sent out a grader and a crew to help spread the sand uphill, after Bowers had already shovelled it the day before.

A spokesperson said the department is looking at other options for snow clearing on the side streets of Pacquet, including using a smaller piece of equipment when ice builds up.

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